Nervous Nellie's First Marathon

Timothy and I arrived in Tampa this afternoon. After checking in we drove the entire course and, oh my god!, it's soooo long. I've been gradually becoming more and more nervous over the last two weeks, but it really did hit me today driving the distance. Anyway, the course is beautiful, mostly along the Tampa waterfront and through old neighborhoods with huge, gorgeous homes. I'm scared to death, but very excited. Funny, I was telling someone this morning that one of the reasons I decided to run a marathon was to participate in a race that, unlike hang gliding, involves no luck and no fear...its purely physical and mental strength. Ha, seems I was wrong about the no fear part.

View of part of the course from our hotel window.

Al-EE-gay-tor

Mom and I took the boy to Gatorland today. Had a great time - nobody loves an adventure more than my Maxie. Of course, I had to show a few of those wranglers how it's done ;-)

Another Weekend at the Questicle

Funny the things we find to entertain us when the weather isn't just right. Saturday we flew, but the wind was blowing quite a bit, so it wasn't the most enjoyable tow or landing of my life. I suppose it's good for me to fly in conditions I'm not completely comfortable with- but that doesn't mean I have to enjoy it.


Paul and Lauren scouted out this little training hill a while back, so we decided to give it a try. There isn't much in the way of landing area below, so we started with a paraglider. Dustin gave lessons to anyone willing. Pity there's a fence around the track...and heaps of small trees....and lightpoles....and private property ;-) I guess we can't complain - finding a hill of any sort in Florida is a difficult enough task.

Looks Like My Uncle When He's Been Drunk for a Week

.....Nicole's new best friend.

Georgia on my Mind

I'm about 4000ft over the beautiful south Georgia countryside. April,
Johnny T. and I are cruising up to Lookout Mountain to check out the
Flytec Rally course. So far, so good- all looks completely wide open,
green and gorgeous. I think everyone is going to love flying some new
terrain!

Support the US Team

The US team shirts are out and available at www.flytec.com/worldteam/support.html. They've got a cool new design this year and even nice girly shirts for all the wives, girlfriends and mistresses out there.


My best hang gliding buddy Princess Dustina is also offering some really great equipment and one-on-one and group xc and competition clinics for raffle on his blog at http://dustinhoflies.blogspot.com/. Dustin is an exceptional instructor and the clinics are sure to be great! Odds are really good that you'll win something and if you don't, at least you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that Dustin owes you one ;-)

In the Land of Piggly Wigglies

Just back at Quest tonight after a little road trip with Timothy up to Georgia. We checked out some of the airfields we have lined up for the Flytec Rally and all is looking great. It amazes me that once you go north across that state line into Georgia, you're suddenly in the south again...Piggly Wigglies, confederate flags and all. The really nice thing is that folks are unbelievably friendly and each airport seems genuinely thrilled to have us coming up in the spring. It seems in so many other parts of the country everyone is too concerned about liability and all the other hassles of having a traveling hang gliding circus come to town. In Georgia, on the other hand, they seem to be rolling out the red carpet. Instead of questions about liability insurance and contracts and such, they're just wondering what more they can do to help. It's quite nice.

My favorite airport, Souther Field in Americus, Georgia was a military training facility in WW1 and WW2. Currently it is slow and mellow and used mainly as a base for crop dusting operations. There's also a funny graveyard full of German crop dusting planes. Can't imagine what they are doing there.

And I Ran, I Ran So Far Away

Still gazing out my window dreaming of soaring the seawall. For now, I can only watch jealously as the seagulls get to play without me. I might be willing to give it a try if the wind wasn't so gusty and crossing a bit out of the north. It is a pity though, it's not so often that it blows this hard off the water :-( Where's Bo when you need him...he could do it!!

When you Feel Down and Out, Sing a Song...

One last glorious day of flying before Carl had to go home today. I'm not so happy at the moment, but glad we had such perfect conditions. Yesterday was by far the best day of all with the strongest climbs and highest cloudbase for the past two weeks. We went for a quick milk run to Wallaby and back...arriving back at Quest and having to fight to come down.

I hope the weather gods are as cooperative in March as they have been this time around. In the meantime, it's back to work for me...anything to take my mind off what I am missing so much.

I promised Carl great flying while he was here thinking I could lure him across the pond and deal with the consequences if it turned out to be rainy and windy. It was a lucky bet because we've had unseasonably warm weather and excellent flying nearly the whole time he's been here. Today was no exception. Dr. Jack promised reasonably strong climbs and a bit of a breeze out of the south, so we were hoping for a hundred today. When we got to the field there was quite a lot of high cloudy gook, so we scrapped the idea. Big mistake. It was gorgeous with up to 500fpm smooth climbs and and I really do think we could have made it had we gone for it first thing. Oh well, tomorrow's forecast looks even better than today's did, so maybe we'll finally get our long one!!


We finished off the day with a little "proof of concept" tandem flight ;-) I had forgotten how much fun it is to be in the air in the same glider with a hottie.

Driving Slow on Sunday Morning

Typical gorgeous winter conditions here this past week. We haven't been going hundreds of miles, but we've had lovely flights. Yesterday Carl and I headed north hoping for a hundred. With a bit of a late start thanks me me pinning off way too early twice, we realized we weren't likely to make it that far. So instead we found this amazing fly-in community with a 5000 ft beautifully manicured grass runway. Everyone was tickled to have us there. Dozens came out to watch Carl land after me, then they offered us beer and food and bathrooms. I'm convinced we would have had a nice warm bed to sleep in had we not had a driver on the way. In the end, I even got a helicopter ride!!

The bald eagles are out in full force this time year. I had a nice 700 up thermal with one, but couldn't get the camera out in time. We found this one beside the road.

Paul and Lauren been going to this cool mountain biking park up north. Saturday was windy, so we spent the day up there trying to keep up with the British BMX champion. Lauren's handle bars suddenly came loose on a jump and she took a nasty little spill but still had fun riding with us all day.

Copa Conquer 2008 DVD

At the Canoa ridge race this year we had a well known documentary film-maker putting together a great little DVD about the race. Manuel been doing surfing films for some time now and it was cool having him and his beautiful fiance Elle out there getting so much footage of our flying both in Guayaquil and Canao. He has created a great DVD of the entire adventure and you can get one directly from me for $20 - just email me at naughtylawyer@gmail.com. If you've ever thought of coming down to the ridge race (or you can't make it down and want to make yourself feel really envious ;-) you ought to see this video. I'll say what I've said a hundred times before - this is the best competition I go to all year long and I will be going for as long as they put it on!

Here are a couple of short clips from the DVD.

Me & My Baby

Home in California for the first time in over two years. It's very strange being here, nearly like a foreign country, but not in the good way. Brooke picked me up at the airport and she's as beautiful and perfect as ever.

The Lost City

In case there was any question (and to ensure more snakes in my condo when I get home), here's proof to Markus and Mateo that I was really there. A careful check will reveal no Photoshop'ing ;-)
I'm guessing the only way to see Machu Picchu for the first time is at the crack of dawn. We arrived at 6am when the city opened to find ourselves in the clouds. For several hours the clouds and rain would come and go, teasing us with one quick glimpse after another of an amazing view from the watchtower.
When it started to look as though things would clear off a bit, we started the short, but very steep hike to Waynapicchu, the mountain overlooking the city.

We waited quite a while until little by little the sky began to completely open up and for the first time in a few weeks, a tanktop was enough in the warm sun.

We came down all sweaty to explore the city a bit more now that the sun was out and we could see it in all its glory. Plus, Wasabi wanted some pictures for his blog ;-)

There were heaps more people by afternoon. I can't even imagine what this place is like in high season. The colorful rain ponchos tend to ruin most of the pictures, but I thought this one was cool.

Even aside from the city itself, the view from up there is amazing in all directions. The individual, freestanding mountains remind me so much of Rio de Janeiro. Here is the steep unpaved road the busses traverse to bring up the tourists and at the bottom next to the river you can see the train which is the only access to the village of Aguas Calientes (the starting point).



Me, very happy to see something I've dreamed of since I was a child!

Finally, we had to say goodbye :-(

Cycling Along the Sacred Valley

Timothy, Gry and I decided for a mountain biking trip yesterday alongside and then down into the Sacred Valley of the Inkas. I was feeling like a total whip trying to climb the slightest incline at this elevation (3500 meters). The trip took us along a gorgeous plateau just above the Sacred Valley and right next door to the local hang gliding site.



We went through a few lovely little villages with super friendly people. First stop was a potato field where the farmers were taking a little break. They waved us to come up to the field where they were hanging out and drinking the local alcoholic brew made from corn. It didn't taste at all good at first, but got better after a few sips ;-) Peruvians are very social people, I'm finding. We drank and chatted with them for a while before getting on our way.


Next stop was a set of Inkan ruins (total surprise - the guide didn't tell us we would be seeing ruins). The original "hole" was created by a meteorite which caused the Inkans to believe it was a sacred place with strong energy in the lowest terrace. Back in the day, the terraces were used as a sort of agricultural lab - testing various crops at different levels. We were told to either put our palms to the ground or lay down to soak up the energy. I tried my best, but I'm not convinced I got any ;-)


Eventually the trail had us dropping down into the Sacred Valley with a short stop at a salt mine for a little tour. Gry is so good with the kids and loves showing them their pictures on her digital camera. They're usually a bit shy at first, but warm up to her very quickly.


Finished up way late (for stopping constantly for pictures) tired and dirty.

Time For Letting Go....

Gry and I left Huaraz Saturday morning for a trek through the Cordillera Blanca. It was a five hour minibus ride to the trailhead, scary at times, but nice to get a bit of an idea where we would spend the next four days.



This is the road up to the little village of Vaceria where the hike started.

I am the first to admit that I am just about the most spoiled person on the planet, but I had no idea just how spoiled one could be until this trip. We carried just day packs with water and cameras and the guides with mules carried our larger packs, the tents, sleeping bags and food for the whole group. I thought this sounded very nice, but had no idea how decadent it would feel. Each morning one of the guides came to our tent with tea and a basin of hot water for washing up. The mules would pass us during the afternoon so that they could have camp set up and snacks ready in the kitchen tent when we arrived. Edith, our main guide was with us hiking all day, then would sit in the kitchen tent and chop vegetables for whatever homemade meal she was making that night. Breakfast was hot pancakes or omelets, and other fresh things.

The camping sites got more and more spectacular each day. We were a group of 6 with 2 guides and a mule handler and there was another group about the same size that was doing the same trek with us, but other than that, we didn't see much of anyone during the day.

We had just one tough day of hiking with a 1000 meter gain all in the last two hours. But reaching the summit was well worth it and we had a little celebration up there before it started to hail and get much too cold for hanging out. Our group was great - an adorable couple from Madrid, Irene and Gonzalo, a sweet, quiet couple from Poland, Gry and I and our guides Edith, Lucia and Emilio.